The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-08-24

compels the widow of his deceased part
ner TO sell out to him at ruinous
price, or lose all. The stock was sup
posed to be very valuable, but it has
been so "watered" that when the executor
tries to sell it he is laughed out of Wall street,
or the administrator is ordered by the surro-
| gate to wind up the whole affair. The estate
was supposed at the mans death to be worth
! $50. 900; but after the Indebtedness had been
met, and the bills Of the doctor and the un-
dertaker, and the tombstone cutter have been
! paid, there is nothing left. That means the
! children are to come home from school and
go to work. That means the complete hard
| ship of the wife, turned out with nothing but
| e needle to fight the great battle of the world.
Tear down the lambreluins, close the piano,
| rip up the Administer. sell out the wardrobe.
and let the mother take child in each hand
| and trudge out into the desert Of the world.
/ A life Insurance would have hindered all
| that.
But, says some one. 81 am man Of small
means, and / can't afford to pay the premi-
um." That is sometimes a lawful and genu-
inc excuse. and there is no answer to it: but
in nine cases out of ten when man says that
, he smokes up in cigars, and drinks down in
wine, and expends in luxuries enough money
to have paid the premium on a life insurance
policy which would have kept his family from
beggary when he is dead. A man ought to
put himself down on the Strictest economy
until he can meet this Christian necessity.
You have no right to the luxuries of life un
til you have made such provision. I admire
what was said by Rev. DR. Guthrie, the great
Scottish preacher. A few years before his
death he stood in public meeting and de-
clared: "When | came to Edinburgh the peo-
pie sometimes laughed at my black stockings
and at my cotton umbrella, and they said l
looked like common p!owman, and they de-
rided me because live in a house for which
| paid t25 n year rent, and oftentimeS l
walked when would have been very glad to
have cab; but, gentlemen, did all that be-
cause wanted to pay the premium OH life
insurance that would keep my family COM
Portable if should die" That take to be
the right expression of an honest, intelli-
gent, Christian man.
The utter indifference of many people on
this important subject accounts for much Of
the crime and the pauperism of the day.
ings with broken broom and begging Of YOU
penny as you go by: Who are these lost
souls gliding under the gasight, in thin
shawls: All, they are the victims of want;
in many of the cases the forecast of parents
and grandparents might have prohibited it.
God only knows how they struggled to do
right. They prayed until thu tears froze on
breaking of the day; but they could not get
enough money to pay the rent; they
could not get enough money to de-
Gently clothe themselves; and one day
in that wretched home the angel Of
purity and the angel Of crime fought
great fight between the empty bread tray
and the tirelesS hearth, and the blackwinged
angel shrieked: "Aha! have won the day"
Says some man: G. believe what you say;
time to attend to this matter" My friend,
you are going to lose the comfort of your
household in the same way the sinner loses
heaven, by procrastination. l see all
aroundm the destitute and suffering families
of parents who meant some day to attend
to this Christian duty. During the process
of adjournment the man gets his feet wet,
then comes a chill and delirium and the
doleful shake of the doctors head and the OBJ
sequies. If there be anything more pitiable
than woman deicately brought up, and on
her marriage day by an indulgent father
given to a man to whom she is the chief JOY
and pride of life until the moment of his death,
and then that same woman going out with
helpless chillren at her back to struggle for
bread in world where brawny muscle and
rugged soul are necessary-I say, if there ba
know what it is. And yet there are good
|, women who are Indifferent in regard to their
husbands duty in this respect: and there are
those positively hostile, as though life
insurance subjected a man to some
fatality. There is in Brooklyn to-day
very poor woman keeping a candy shop,
who vehemently opposed the insurance
of her husbands life, and when application
had been made for policy of $4,000 she
frustrated it. She would never have a doc
ument in the house that implied it was pos
sible for her husband ever to die. One day, in
quick revolution of machinery, his life was
instantly dashed out. What is the sequeli
She is. with annoying tug, making the hall al
been taken away from her in order that they
may he clothed and schooled, and her life i;
to be prolonged hardship o man, before
forty eight hours have passed away, appear
at the desk of some of our great life in.
surance companies, have the stethoscope OF
the physician put to your heart and lungs,
and by the seal of some honest company de.
cree that your children shall not be subjected
to the humiliation of financial struggle in the
day of Your demise.
But must ask the men engaged in life In
surance business whether they feel the i'm.
portance Of their trust, AMI charge them I
must that they need divine grace to help
them in their work. In this day, when there
are so many rivalries in your line OF busl-
ness, you will be tempted to overState ths
amount Of assets and the extent of ths
surplus, and you will be tempted to
abuse the franchise Of the Company,
and make up the deficits Of one year by
adding some of the receiyts of another year;
! and you will be tempted to send out mean,
anonymous circulars derogltory to other
companies, forgesful Of the fact that anony
nous communication means only two things
the cowardice of the author and the ine!h-
cheney of the police il allowing such thing
to be date anywhere save insi lie Of peni-
tentiary. Under the mighty pressure many
have gone down, and you will follow them if
you have too much confidence in yourself,
and do not appeal to the Lord for positive
help. But if any Of you belong to that mis-
creant class of people who, with out any finan-
cial ability, organize themselves into what
| they call life Insurance. company. with
pretended capital of S!000OJ or S390,0J0,
then vote yourself into the lucrative position,
and then take all the premiums for
| of the State Superintendent, drop all into the
hands of those life insurance undertakers
whose business it is to gather up the remains
| of defunct organizations and bury them in
their own fault-then, say, you had better
| get out of the business, AMI disgorge the
widows houses you have swallowed But my
word is to all those who are legitimately ell
gagged in the business. You ought to be bet
ter than other men, not only because of the
responsibilities that rest upon you, but be-
cause the truth is ever confronting you that
| your stay on earth is uncertain, anil your life
a matter Of a few days or years. Do not those
black edged letters that come into your Office
make you think: Does not the doctors car
tificate on the death claim give you thrilll
Your periodicals, your advertisements,
and even the lthoyraphy OF your policies
warn you that You are mortal. According
| TO your own showing the CHI inccS that You